Bio & Project Information
Sarai Montes is a diasporic Oaxacan (Ñuu Savi) and Salvadoran multidisciplinary artist, born and raised in the East Bay Area with an interest in printmaking, film and mixed media installations. She received a B.A. in Art Practice, Ethnic Studies and Film & Media Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. Through her art she explores themes of transnational identity, Indigenous resistance, and Indigenous feminism. Her work celebrates her communities while also highlighting collective struggles and social issues in order to push others to imagine a better world. Her communities, ancestral memory and the history of art as a tool for resistance all influence her art practice which embraces the idea of the personal as political.
Through The ReGen Artist Fund, Montes will create a series of multi-color prints on paper highlighting the stories of women of color who have shaped and participated in liberation movements and the struggle for equity. Working closely with the community, Montes will teach the relationship between art and social justice to encourage community participants to explore art as a tool for resistance.